Friday, 27 April 2012

Back in Africa

Although it was
almost dark as I touched down in Africa again, the greenness of the countryside
greeted me, and surprised me yet again.
Even though all my previous preconceptions of Africa have been wrong,
Morocco I was sure would be dry and barren!
Wrong again it seems!

As I take the 1 hour
taxi ride between Fez and Ifrane, I can tell that there is a stark contrast
between North Africa, and the sub-Saharan parts of the continent which I have
previously visited. Despite this, I can
also see the similarities. In the dark
and teeming rain, the drive up the mountains to my home for the next 10 days
has all the dangers of driving on the roads of Africa, but none of the
excitement. Darkly clothed people walk
on the verge of the unlit road, making their way home in the downpour; the
lights of the taxi silhouetting them, and saving them, at the last moment. As the road twists and turns further up into
the middle atlas, the taxi driver makes halfhearted attempts to pass laden
trucks, pulling alongside them, before the lights of an oncoming car makes him
think better of it. I look forward to
seeing some of the countryside in daylight.
When we eventually arrive in Ifrane, I can tell that the town is nothing
like the Africa I have seen before; the light dusting of snow which has just
fallen reminding me that I'm a long way from the sun-drenched plains of the rift
valley.

As my first day
indicated, Morocco is anything but dry.
In fact it rained almost all day, and only just before evening fell on
Friday could I eventually venture out and investigate my new surroundings
again. After hurting my little toe
earlier in the week, I decided to give it one more day to recover, so a run
wasn't planned, but it was nice to finally get out of the apartment. I had awoken earlier in the day to the sight
of a stork on a nearby rooftop. I
quickly crept out of bed, grabbed my camera, and carefully opened the window to
catch a shot without frightening her away.
Ten days later she doesn't seem to have moved, and I later realised that
there are about 8 other storks nesting within sight of my bedroom window. In fact the town is full of them. On that first evening, I also discovered some
monkeys playing at the edge of the forest; the closest of them within touching
distance of me. Unfortunately my camera
wasn't so close this time, and I haven't spotted them since. Just my luck.

I was very apprehensive about coming to Morocco. As
a Muslim country I was worried about running around, particularly on my own,
and was very glad when AnnMarie joined me on Sunday for the remainder of the
trip. In fact, now it's difficult to see
what I was so apprehensive about, and why I would ever have left a place like
this out of my research, just because I might get a little bit too much
attention! Apart from our distinct lack
of French, we're doing just fine.

Ifrane is a
university town of approximately 10,000 people, situated at just over 1,600m in
the Moylen (mid) Atlas. In the
forest just above the town sits the green-roofed royal palace, the summer
residence of the Sultan of Morocco.
During the winter months, the town is a ski resort, and with it's distinctively European, rather than Moroccan, architecture, the town has a very
alpine feel to it. The town was built as
a hill station during French occupation, a place where the colonials could go
and feel like they were at home. While
there's not much to do on rain days (of which we've had many), Ifrane offers a plenitude of lovely walks, and of course lots of places to run.

Morocco have a great
tradition in distance running, and legend Said Aouita was the first to use
Ifrane as a training base. Today
numerous Moroccan and French athletes train here, and it's easy to see
why. Good food, relaxed atmosphere,
cheap cost of living, smoothly surfaced roads, and miles and miles of trails
make Ifrane perfect for running. Shame
about all the rain though!

About Me

In 2010, at the age of 30, I set out on the adventure of a lifetime, in a quest to write an altitude training travel guide. This blog records my adventures, experiences and thoughts as I gathered information for the book, and since as I promote the finished product, Notes from Higher Grounds: An Altitude Training Guide for Endurance Athletes, which was published in 2013.